The legal protection of the Amazon – Cardiff academic part of global collaboration

A group of academics from around the world will come together this November at a webinar to discuss the protection of the Amazon rainforest and the crucial role it plays in preventing climate change.

Reader in Law at the School of Law and Politics, Dr Ricardo Pereira is one of the group who collaborated earlier this year on a Special Issue of the Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law (RECIEL) journal dedicated to the Amazon Rainforest. Dr Pereira guest edited the Special Issue with Dr Beatriz Garcia, Western Sydney University.

Published in July 2021, the Special Issue evaluated legal pathways that may contribute to the protection of the Amazon against the backdrop of increasing deforestation rates, forest fires, biodiversity losses and unfavourable political contexts in some of the Amazon States.

The issue shed light on how domestic and international litigation, national and international environmental law and human rights, as well as private sector and market-based initiatives, may contribute to protecting the Amazon. It also highlights the challenges related to regional and international cooperation and forest governance more broadly,

To mark the publication of the Special Issue, the contributors now take part in a workshop, The Legal Protection of the Amazon: Current and Future Trends on 25 November 2021, which will also feature opening keynote addresses by distinguished experts in the fields of international environmental law, policy and science . The Amazon fires in 2019 and 2020 have heightened attention on the region and brought the question of Amazon conservation to the forefront of international debate. The crucial role of primary forests, such as the Amazon, in preventing catastrophic biodiversity losses and climate change is largely recognised in scientific literature and in policy forums. The workshop will also be an opportunity to evaluate the outcomes of COP-26 in Glasgow that are relevant to forests and biodiversity conservation.

Joining links and further information including the full programme for the webinar can be found on the Griffith University website. The event is organised by Western Sydney University School of Law in collaboration with Griffith University's Tropical Primary Forests and Climate Change project, Cardiff University’s School of Law & Politics and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at the Columbia Law School.